I need to go to bed

I woke up with a headache.  WTF, I thought.  I just finished my cycle.  I'm supposed to get the headache before the cycle, not after. 

I took some Excedrin, got up, and took my shower.  I did my God Time later.  God understood. 

We went to work, which was pretty uneventful.  The other vendor was there and we showed him the tires on the handcart.  We replaced the inflatable pneumatic tires, with a solid rubber "no flat" tire which has been great.  It only cost $40 and you bet it was worth every penny.  He was very interested. 

"I've used the cart" I told Ron "To carry 30 cases of Dr Pepper.  Not only that, I did 10 cases of bottled water on Saturday with no problem."  So, they work.  Glad I saw the tires on a Dr Pepper handcart, and glad Ron and looked into getting them for ourselves. 

That is a definite business "win". 

We had a long day at work and did everything.  Some of the things I do:

• Help Ron "What's this?" 
• Help Ron "Can you get me a...."
• Help Ron get soda from the fridge to put into the bottled vendor. 
• Replace said soda. 
• Fill up the snack machine: chips, cookies, pastry, crackers, cookies, trail mix, granola bars, etc.  Each vending machine has between 40 to 60 selections and each row has  to be filled, on a good day. 
• "What's this?"
• Help Ron with the inventory if we are doing a supply run or placing an order. 
• Service food machine, fill it up with good things to eat. 
• Change banks: fill up quarters, dimes, nickels, as needed.  Since our chips are 70 cents I fill up a lot of nickels. 
• "What's this?"
• Check the path is clear for Ron to go to the bathroom.
• "You need to help him" [he is struggling with something and too proud to ask for help]
• Service coffee machine, make sure powder levels are OK, cups are stocked, and empty the waste bucket (aka the yuck bucket).
• Sometimes: take money out of the vending machines. 
• "Where's the Coke, Heather?"
• "Is this a Coke or a Diet Coke?"
• "Can I get change?"

You get the idea.  All done, we came home.  We rode with a driver who hated cats.  I can't fathom a person who hates cats, and wonder what kind of childhood they had. 

In my case, all 3 of my cats picked me.  They wanted to live with me.  That's an honor, I try to respect that and make it worth their while.  After all, they gave up their reproductive organs to live with me.  That's a pretty big deal. 

The driver did agree the catio was a good idea, no one has to encounter a cat unless they walk into my house. 

I just have to marvel at people who hate cats, and I have to figure someone like that ran over poor Gravy, or hurt him.  After all, in addition to a very bad break, he had been kneecapped.  That's some severe trauma.  It makes me sick to think about it. 

I don't regret putting him down, knowing all that.  These days if someone gets badly hurt we can just amputate and keep them, but back then they were still outside/inside cats.  That would not have worked, a 3 legged cat outside. 

Anyway, onto happier subjects, I came home and all 3 cats were waiting to say hello.  I took some aspirin (my headache wasn't gone), and laid down for a little while. 

Then we went to Walmart, but our ride was late.  The driver asked Ron what happened to his head (he has a couple of abrasions from Friday).  He told the truth, I had too much vodka.  She asked me quietly if he had a drinking problem (he was in the back of the vehicle).  I told her yes, simply.  She asked me if he got mean with it.  I told her, sometimes, simply.  She looked at me with such pity. 

And that will probably be all over the system by the time I finish this post, but Ron's the one who said it.  I don't feel bad for elaborating.  He would be the first to say he can act like "a real creep". 

He always tells me not to believe what he says when he is having a blackout (awful things).  He was trying to throw some of my old sexual sins back at me, but he got me mixed up with some other woman and kept throwing tales I'd never heard in my face.  I had a hard time not laughing. 

"Ron!  You got your hoes mixed up!"  [snort]

Anyway, sometimes I think, and even Ron agrees, he might get, like, infected by a demon or something during his blackouts.  He acts very differently and seems hell bent on hurting us both. 

I don't know.  He's been behaving the last couple days. 

He did say tonight his leg was bothering him, about 3 hours after he ate a BBQ sandwich.  I checked his sugars and they were 130, pretty high considering he had eaten hours ago. 

He is diabetic, but usually his sugars are fine.  Anyway, could be high blood sugars are causing the leg "zaps" and pain, which have led to him drinking and having blackouts in the past.  Hopefully moderating his food intake, and avoiding bbq sauce (he said he had a bbq sandwich before the leg zaps on Friday, which led to the drinking and the blackout). 

I left Ron up front in the wheelchair and did my shopping.  I got some notebooks and index cards for work.  I find them endlessly useful. 

I got a case of Gravy Lovers Salmon for Biscuit and Baby Girl, happily they are still eating that flavor.  I got 2 big tins of cat treats for everyone. 

Did you know Torbie will pat Ron's arm with her paw when she wants treats?  It's very cute. 

I got protein bars for me, some mini chocolate bar "copays" for the various medical outings we'll have, and some soda.  Drink mix, pens, etc. 

I managed to get it all done in half an hour (I only had 40 minutes) and even had enough time to get some takeout before our ride came.  The driver was really nice about strapping Ron down in the back of the vehicle. 

I got everything put away and did some laundry.  I got Ron in his bath and make sure he got everything.  He has abrasions on both arms, one knee, and his head.  He fell a lot on Friday. 

Of course you don't mention the word "fall" around a medical person, EVER, unless you want a whole river of intervention.  We don't. 

Ron just needs to put the bottle away.  He already hates it.  I think that's a good start.  We will hear about his liver test results when we go back to primary Doc.  If they are altered in any way I think that will be additional motivation for Ron to reform. 

But it has to come from him.  He did agree to take milk thistle.  Milk thistle can help the liver and is totally safe to take.  It will either work, or it won't. 

In the past, Ron had really good results with his psoriasis when he was taking milk thistle.  In fact, it was frustrating.  He had been taking it about the time of his accident.  He was in a c-collar for a week until they could rule out a broken neck/back.  When they took it off his neck was suffering a horrible psoriasis attack. 

I asked them to give him something and they just scratched their heads and went "dunno" and asked me what he took before.  I told them, milk thistle.  And they just looked at me like "say what?"  They wouldn't give it to him. 

No, they'd rather he suffer untreated than to use something that had worked in the past.  Eventually it improved.  But he looked awful.  No wonder no one wanted to visit. 

Except me.  The old faithful hound, sitting by his bedside, holding his bad hand and talking to him. 

So, I know milk thistle will work for his psoriasis, if nothing else.  And his scalp is pretty bad. 

Tomorrow is MRI day.  We will see how that goes.  Good news it isn't really "interventional".  It's just going to look at him lying on the bed and take some images.  Then someone's going to do an ultrasound of his legs to make sure he doesn't have clots.  He said his legs are not as sensitive to rubbing as his back and abdomen, so that's good.  He had an abdominal ultrasound in 2008 and almost hit the ceiling at some points.  The copay isn't horrific, $100.  Considering he pays 20% that's not a bad deal. 

Ron has never wanted to change his medical insurance so we won't. 

The chocolate copay should be a big hit.  I have only once ever had a medical provider say "No I don't want that chocolate" and that was our vet.  She is on a special diet, so I bring her fancy soaps now.  She's happy, I'm happy, the cats are happy. 

And I need to go to bed.